120 sq ft 15MP Rear Projection Video Wall Build

120 sq ft 15MP Rear Projection Video Wall Build - (How to build the ulitimate gaming wall for less than a new TV at Best Buy)

Hi All:

I read a lot, but rarely post. I just wanted to share my ultimate creation. I feel like this is how eyefinity should be done. I had to promise my wife I would never bring home a bigger screen and mean it this time. The build took us (my brother and I) all week after work, and it was finished at 2:30ish AM this morning. It still needs color balancing, calibration and such, but it is presentable.

Some specs:

• Comprised of: 8 Planar/Clarity Visual Lion UXGA screens - DATASHEET
• Pixels: Total of 15.36 million
• Total Weight: Almost exactly 2000 lbs.
• Viewable Image Total: Almost exactly 120 square feet
• Image Height/Total Height: ~6'9"/~8'3"
• Image Width: ~17'9"
• Bezels between screens: 0.3" (7.5mm)
• Floorspace Used: ~60 square feet
• Typical Power consumption @ 1 of 2 lamps lit (as shown): 3.488 KW
• Price of Power consumption @ current rates: ~$0.40/hr
• Amount of cablic used: ~300'
• Powered by: i950@4Ghz, 6GB, 3x HD5870 e6 2GB cards
• Desperately needs: (x4) Matrox DH2G DP Edition so I can make one big eyefinity group and re-enable tri-fire.

Mind you, I am a regular guy. I didn't inherit any money, I have no college degree or 6-figure disposable income. I have a regular job and make regular money and pay regular bills.
I am infinitely proud of my new creation, but the thing I am most proud of? I paid $1,350 for this monstrocity...less than I could go to Best Buy and buy a decent new TV. Not bad for a screen system that still has an MSRP of ~$120,000 :O

THIS IS A LONG STORY. IF YOU JUST WANT THE END, SKIP TO THE BOTTOM TO SEE PICS.

In all fairness, some of this was luck, but much of it was sheer persistence and work. What I have saved in $$ some may say I have spent in time and headaches. I bought all of these on eBay, which I scour almost daily.
Having been enthralled with exotic screen systems since my first CRT projector i bought about a decade ago, I have learned the search terms and manufacturers that many (if not most) people have never heard of. Names like Barco and Electrohome and (in this case) Clarity Visual.
I regularly check many categories such as Computer Equipment>Monitors and just sort by distance to see what local only items I may find, hoping to find the obscure gem. And one day, I did: I happened upon 3 of these units, pickup only here in Houston, TX for a whopping $25 each. No pics, no description, just a model #. Almost nobody else even looked at them, and certainly nobody else bid. So, for the last few months, I had a 3-screen 4800x1200 wall eyefinity setup running for a whopping $75:

The guy who sold them to me said he offered them to his employees for FREE and they didn't want them :O The screens were nice, but not perfect. 2 of them had streaks in the black levels:

Upon calling their tech support, I was told it was a $900 polarizing filter. So, I figured I was just going to have to live with it, not bad for $75. But I'll keep my eyes open for more and keep searching. And then found a guy selling 2 lower resolution units with broken glass for $200 a pop. The service part numbers were the same for the piece I need, so I figure it will still be less than $500 total, and bought them. The parts get here, and they're totally different. Stupid company makes different incompatible parts with the same part number. $75 becomes $475 for zero improvement. Ah well, still a good deal. I'll keep my eyes open for more and keep searching.

Then I find a guy selling SEVEN of these cubes. Says they are 100% work fine, just corporate surplus and they're in the way. Wow. Evidently somebody else noticed this too. I won for $905, but shipping 1750lbs is expensive. $800 more dollars worth of expensive. Like I said, I'm not rich, so I didn't what anyone would do :~ ...I borrowed the $1705 for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Total cost is now $2,180 :O but hey, you only live once, right?

Fast forward 6 weeks, (yes WEEKS) to their arrival. Longest 6 weeks of my life. Evidently this guy was just a middle man, and these units came straight out of Verizon's corporate headquarters. It took 6 weeks because Verizon was on that whole strike fiasco, so there was nobody to ship them. I guess they were upgrading new new LED panels or some other chunk-of-a-million dollar technology. This is where the deals are to be had. Corporate surplus is a write-off, and they will sell stuff for next to nothing, because it doesn't matter to them. Look for it.

Well, the bad part of it doesn't matter to them is that, well, it doesn't matter to them. These machines are awesome, yes, but delicate pieces of machinery. They require special packing instruction (which I sent them) and it was completely ignored. Most of them arrived intact, but 2 units were down. That's ok, I only need 8. And then I get everything home, and test them all, and they are ALL messed up. Every single one of them. 2 had only a couple minor dots, but the rest all have streaks like the pic above. I just waited 6 weeks, and spent all that money on a jacked up screen system. So I raise hell with the seller (because he LIED to me, he never even SAW these units, and guaranteed their condition anyway) and sent pics he couldn't argue with, so he refunded half of the money, including shipping. I am now down to ~$1,330, but with mostly damaged units, not enough good ones to even make even a 6-screen wall. I was furious still; it was all I could do to not break things.

They did, however, include a whole bunch of extras, including 5 of a replaceable filter, 6 new lamps, and 4 sets of DVI-fiber optic-DVI transceivers/extenders, which I just learned retail for $1600 a set. (They're for sale by me, much much cheaper) ...So maybe I will make some more of my investment back--The ultimate accomplishment would be to get this setup for under $500!

So I figure I'll make the best of it, and spend my weekend bending metal and replacing broken latches and cleaning the optical systems and doing whatever I can to live with what I've got. I replaced one of the included filters on one of the units that look nasty, and lo-and-behold, it fixed the streaks! The tech support guy was completely wrong, I bought those parts units for nothing, they just needed new filters!

So, I had enough parts and elbow grease to get 8 good (enough) working units out of the total 10! So it was a lot of hard work, and they may not be perfect, but I think the pics will show it was money well spent.

I am at ~$1350 after buying bolts at home depot, and counting DOWN with stuff left to sell. Again, I couldn't buy a new LCD at Best Buy for this, and this is MUCH more awesome.

How to do it:

• Scour eBay and other auction sites. Religiously. Look for local auctioneers, keep your eys in the classifieds, on Craigslist, etc.
• Be Persistent
• Take a gamble. Don't be afraid to buy something on chance. I bought the original 3 on chance and won. I bought the parts units afterward for 5x the price and lost.
• Don't lose hope! When it looks abysmal and all is lost, is probably gonna get better.

This formula might not work for everyone, but it worked for me.

Unfortunately, I didn't do a proper build log, too excited to document it all. Here are a couple of pics of it mostly done, full-size versions (and a few more pics can be seen HERE.:

My brother wrenching down the last of the top row:

A side view, before it's all bolted and screens go on:

It didn't need them, but multiple chains tying to studs for added security:

And for my favorite comic book:

Here is an angled shot, door on the

far left for reference:

Playing milkdrop:

Notice the Nexus dock icons at the bottom middle of the screen:

Then my hand a foot from the screen for comparison's sake

I really need the 4 DH2G units to complete this project, but don't have the cash. I would happily offer up the wall I was going to build for them.
If you can believe it, it is even bigger, albeit at a bit lower res. 13 projectors, and a 25'x9' rear projection screen. Could do some really cool stuff with it. It is also for sale, or trade feel free to make offers. It is listed
HERE.

(in case you are wondering, yes, it's acquisition was also a product of my scouring eBay for the obscure)

Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask any questions.